Deal to Restore Israeli-Turkish Diplomatic Ties Must Wait for New Government

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that he will resign later this month. Photo: Michael Gross via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org– Following Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s recent announcement that he would resign later this month, the resumption of negotiations on a deal to restore diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel will be delayed until a new government in Ankara is formed, Reuters reported.

Shai Cohen, Israel’s consul general in Istanbul, said he expects that discussions “will have to wait until the composition of the new Turkish government on May 22.”

“I believe it will take another round or two in order to conclude the deal…Most of the issues between Israel and Turkey are already, to a certain extent, clear,” Cohen said Monday.

Davutoglu, who was known as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more moderate counterpart, had said in the past that a reconciliation deal would be reached if Israel agreed to resolve the electricity and water crises in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory of Gaza. But with Davutoglu’s resignation, the prospects for reconciliation are unclear.